FTL: Multiverse Mod Review — Unofficial Sequel to FTL: Faster Than Light

Introduction and History of the Original

Back in 2012, the game FTL: Faster Than Light was released by Subset Games studio. It became one of the forefathers of modern roguelikes and was warmly received by players. Although the project didn't achieve explosive popularity initially, it was remembered by many for its originality and unique approach to the genre at that time.

FTL: Faster Than Light immerses you in a universe where humanity has united into one Federation, founded on principles of cooperation, mutual aid, and peaceful coexistence with other intelligent races. The Federation strives to maintain stability in the galaxy, protect trade routes, and ensure equal rights for all allies.

This is how FTL: Faster Than Light began

But one day, a powerful rebel movement emerged that split the once-monolithic Federation. The rebels opposed the idea of a unified alliance of races, believing that humanity should rule the galaxy without regard for "weak" or "alien" civilizations. Their slogans promoted independence, strength, and human supremacy, but in practice, the movement quickly transformed into a militaristic dictatorship where discipline and fanatical loyalty to leaders became more important than freedom.

The player took on the role of a captain of a small ship who had to make a desperate journey to the Federation capital. The path lay through sectors already captured by rebels, and every decision could be fatal. It was necessary to stay at least one step ahead of the advancing enemy fleet at all times, obtain fuel, repair the hull, keep your crew alive, and make difficult moral decisions through text events. At the end of this dangerous path awaited the main enemy — the rebel flagship, defeating which could restore hope to the entire Federation and bring peace to the galaxy.

History of Modifications and Creation of Multiverse

Why should you play a mod of this game called FTL: Multiverse so many years after the original's release: a game that never received official modding tools?

Fortunately, dedicated FTL fans were found who didn't wait for the release of a second part (which, according to the developers' assurances, will never come out), but took on massive modding of the game. The first global modification of the game was FTL: Captain's Edition, which offered many new weapons, drones, modules, sectors with new types of natural hazards, changed layouts of old ships, new events, and added one race, as well as new mechanics: for example, the ability to surrender to an opponent to end hostilities, or crew morale and desertion. This mod deliberately turned each playthrough into an even more unpredictable and tense trial, more dependent on luck than on playing skill.

Screenshot of FTL: Captain's Edition with a slightly modified starting cruiser

Later came the mod FTL: Arsenal+, which further developed the ideas established in FTL: Captain's Edition, and continues to develop to this day, but that's a separate story.

FTL: Arsenal+ hangar with starting ship

And so we come to the moment when the mod FTL: Multiverse was created by a group of enthusiasts that included Kix, AgenTHeKat, Laythe, and Markus McCloud. The mod uses revolutionary fan-created modding tools called Hyperspace. Thanks to them, the possibilities for FTL modding were significantly expanded. For example, while previously it was impossible to add new ships to the game — only replace existing ones with others — now most limitations were removed. The fact that almost every element of the game became more flexible and customizable allowed modding to reach a new level and create a massive mod that looks, perhaps, like FTL: Faster Than Light 2, if it had been released.

FTL: Multiverse main menu

Plot and Concept of FTL: Multiverse

The plot of FTL: Multiverse tells how victory over the rebel flagship was merely the end of the war in Universe 0. A multiverse engine was invented that allowed leaving the confines of one reality and traveling among countless realities. Thanks to this invention, the conflict between the Federation and rebels reached a new level and plunged infinite universes into war. This means the Federation again needs heroes who can bring peace.

You become one of the Federation renegades who, as before, takes command of a small ship, but now your actions affect not just one universe, but entire dimensions. You must explore new sectors, encounter new versions of known enemies and allies, uncover the secrets of ancient races and technologies, and make decisions capable of changing the course of war in each separate reality.

Your starting ship. The interface color in FTL: Multiverse has been changed, but you can return to the old one if desired

Each playthrough becomes much more unique thanks to new races, ships, weapons, drones, modules, and new branching storylines that contain as much text as three volumes of "The Lord of the Rings" combined.

There's a lot of text in the mod, but it's written with quality and humor.

Unlike FTL: Captain's Edition, the developers took a completely different approach to creating the mod: randomness is minimized, and the player has more opportunities to influence events, rather than, for example, suffering the guaranteed loss of a crew member just because you were unlucky.

Greater attention is paid to connecting the significantly expanded story of FTL: Multiverse with the vanilla version of the game. Some storylines from FTL: Faster Than Light received organic continuation in Multiverse. You can meet familiar characters and events, but in new circumstances, which allows you to look at the known story from another angle and logically connect new events with the already known universe.

One of the mod's location background images — a memorial built in honor of Universe 0, specifically for the Battle of Node 17

Races and Crew

The number of races and factions has been significantly increased: if the original FTL had only 9 races, Multiverse has dozens, for example:

• Orchids - a plant race that can produce oxygen on the ship but is highly vulnerable to fire. Friendly, diplomatic, unless it concerns their children, they hold socialist views and love using missile weapons on their ships.

• Shells - distant relatives of slugs, oriented toward scientific progress, defense, and order, but can behave arrogantly with representatives of other races, and are heavily dependent on oxygen. Their ships are usually equipped with improved shields, anti-hull weapons, and cloaking systems.

• Ghosts - one of the most ancient races. They lead a nomadic lifestyle on decaying, abandoned ships, don't require oxygen, and can pass through doors. They have practically no centralized power system and strongly dislike unmanned ships, considering them demons.

• Leeches - dirty, unpleasant, unsympathetic creatures that are distinguished by the ability to regenerate health over time and absorb energy from the system room they occupy. The Leech Empire has seen better times and is now in a state of civil war.

• And many others, both rarer and secret ones.

Ship of unique crew member — Aenwithe, capable of accommodating a large amount of crew

In addition, all old and new races received different subspecies, specialties, and unique characters. Thus, Mantises split into regular mantises, controlled by the Hive Queen through her pheromones, and free mantises who freed themselves from the queen's control thanks to synthesized pheromones that can temporarily enhance their already outstanding combat abilities, but at the cost of reduced cognitive abilities; in other words, they are very stupid, and perhaps that's why they love humans so much.

Among humans appeared soldiers — a specialty that performs better in combat; engineers — better at repairs and learning; and medics — who have the ability to heal allied crew. These specialties are also divided into regular and elite variants, which are found much less frequently but possess better characteristics.

Some representatives of races and classes

Speaking of abilities. Many crew member classes received active abilities: besides the aforementioned free mantises and medics, shells can explode, dealing damage to both themselves and those around them; slugs can enter stealth mode for unnoticed sabotage or set stunning bombs; rocks can ignite fire in the occupied room; ghosts can immediately attack systems when boarding; crystals can temporarily isolate a room; and Engi can enter nanite mode — almost completely avoiding damage in combat, but losing the ability to fight.

Thanks to these crew abilities, boarding gained new depth. It allows creating powerful synergies between crew members that few can withstand. Imagine a combination of one crystal and three free mantises: the crystal isolates the room, and three mantises under the influence of pheromones that enhance their damage several times over, instantly disable the system and kill those unfortunate enough to be trapped with them. But this works both ways: enemy boarders will also use their abilities, making battles even more tense and tactically demanding.

Weapons

About 150 weapon units total. If you previously despised ion weapons, in Multiverse they have been significantly transformed: new types of ion weapons appeared that allow not only ionizing rooms but also simultaneously dealing damage to the ship's hull; charging ion weapons that accumulate charges over time and can fire up to 5 ion charges at once, leaving the enemy ship practically defenseless; and how about adaptive ion weapons that can increase their ion damage with each shot? Just fire a few shots to "warm up" the weapon, and practically no shields can withstand it.

Other new weapon classes also appeared:

• Conservative weapons: don't require energy but need at least one other powered weapon.

• Pinpoint beam weapons: the same beams but concentrated on attacking one room, capable of penetrating through shields.

• Particle weapons: a weapon class oriented toward dealing system damage without damaging hull and shields.

• Pre-emptive weapons: weapons capable of attacking immediately in the first second of combat, but can only be used a limited number of times per battle.

• Modular weapons: weapons that can be modified by installing various additional modules; for example, how about a power enhancement module that increases the number of laser charges from 3 to 5 at the cost of increasing the weapon's energy consumption by 1? Or a module that increases missile weapon accuracy by 100%; no more annoying misses!

• Old weapons: old and worn, have lower characteristics and accuracy but are cheaper than their modern counterparts.

• Radiation weapons and chaos-causing weapons: what's needed for boarding builds. Don't deal hull damage but deal enormous crew damage; in some cases can incinerate crew in just one hit. Or weapons that only ignite fire in affected rooms, incinerating everything on board!

• Adaptive weapons: weapons that increase damage with each shot.

• Charging weapons: weapons capable of accumulating charges and firing all charges simultaneously when shooting.

• Chain weapons: weapons that receive an additional bonus with each shot, usually increased rate of fire.

• Unique weapon types: weapons obtained from various events, distinguished not only by improved characteristics but sometimes unusual mechanics; for example, the clone launcher — a weapon that shoots clones of crew members.

Weapons look very "appetizing"

Drones

Now let's move on to drones. And here the mod has plenty to surprise you with:

• Switchable drones appeared, whose operating mode you can switch at any time with a special button. For example, you can turn a defense drone that shoots down projectiles into an anti-drone that shoots down enemy combat drones.

• Onboard drones that can not only heal and control systems like crew members but also power systems with energy, as Zoltans do.

• Combat drones using new weapon classes, for example, with pinpoint beams or particle weapons.

• Drones whose characteristics grow with increased power allocation, although their movement speed drops.

• New boarding drones, for example, those that can ionize rooms and heal crew.

This is how drone mode switching looks during battle

Modules and Pre-Combat Actions

Modules are divided into three types: built-in, regular, and consumable combat ones, totaling about 100 units. Built-in ones are generally stronger but cannot be removed.

Built-in module that cannot be removed, but makes the ship unique

Yes, FTL: Multiverse added a new mechanic — pre-combat action, which allows performing one action before combat begins; this can be one of the standard actions that are always available: such as repairing the ship by 1 hull point, creating 1 missile or 1 drone part.

All these actions require a consumable resource — scrap (local currency), which adds an element of strategy: repair or get the needed consumable now or wait until the store to buy at lower prices? Some modules create new possibilities in this pre-combat action choice, for example, the ability to create 1 fuel unit, which is very useful in situations when you're on the verge of running out of fuel and getting stuck, or the ability to ram the enemy ship, taking 1 hull damage but dealing more damage to the enemy, although you can't control which room the hit will be delivered to.

Last-minute action choice before battle

Or actions related to consumable modules that disappear after use, for example, after dealing damage to one of the systems, or regular ones that can temporarily lower the power of one of the opponent's systems, but during this time your reactor power will be reduced; the stronger the enemy's power reduction, the more energy this will require from your reactor, but this annoying requirement can be partially bypassed; more on this later.

Warehouse System and Internal Upgrades

And now let's get to the cherry on top. The game introduced a system of internal upgrades through a new warehouse menu. Through the warehouse menu, you can convert some external modules into internal ones, thereby freeing up module slots. There are also unique upgrades that directly enhance ship systems and even individual crew members. These upgrades can change crew characteristics, for example, making Engi no longer need oxygen and allowing them to live in vacuum, while mantises deal more melee damage but less ranged damage.

Crew upgrade through storage menu, requires installing a laboratory, which is not free

For the ship, a whole range of upgrades is prepared: from three types of manipulators that either increase scrap income, return spent drone parts for deployed combat drones, or open new, more advantageous blue options in events; to improvements of installed systems, for example, accelerating shield, weapon, and engine recharge; ammunition replication, which gives a 50% chance not to use a missile in missile weapons, making this weapon class more desirable; nanobot disperser for the medbay, thanks to which your crew can heal throughout the ship, not just in one room; as well as a backup DNA bank for the clone bay, which will make you forget about annoying situations that occurred in the vanilla version of the game when after a crew member's death and clone bay shutdown, you lost the clone. Or a jammer for enemy defense drones, so they can't shoot down your laser charges and missiles flying accurately to target.

Internal ship upgrade options through storage

Thanks to this, the warehouse mechanic becomes a strategic development center, allowing you to adapt the ship to your playing style and making each playthrough even more unique.

In addition, in this warehouse menu you can do more: talk to unique crew members, learning their history and revealing even more lore of this universe, as well as check the status of ongoing missions.

Ships

And finally, let's talk about what you'll use to traverse universes — ships. In FTL: Faster Than Light there were only about 30 of them, while in Multiverse there are over 300 playable and 800 enemy ships! And they weren't created just for quantity; each ship is as unique as possible, allowing you to experience different play styles: laser, beam, missile, ion, drone, boarding; each of which has its subspecies, for example, boarding through crew members, drones, radiation weapons, or a mixture of these styles. Also, by fulfilling certain conditions, you can unlock both overpowered ships, like the rebel flagship, and those that deliberately challenge you by limiting the ship's basic capabilities.

A total of 17 ship tabs, many of which have 3 types

Shops and Trading

Shops have been significantly improved. If in the original they had only one page and you needed luck to find something truly worthwhile, in FTL: Multiverse there are many; you can almost always find the right weapons, equipment, or hire new crew. There's also a discount mechanic where you don't know what you're buying, but this item has significantly reduced cost.

Store has up to 3 tabs with goods

Balance and Difficulty Settings

Regarding balance, many complained about FTL: Faster Than Light that they periodically encountered ordinary enemies who turned out to be much stronger than their ship, and they suffered defeat. Here this is justified plot-wise: you're not the only renegade traveling between realities, there are many. They represent an increased threat, but you can avoid battle by paying tribute.

One of such renegades, armed and very dangerous. If defeated, there's a chance good equipment will drop

Also, FTL: Multiverse makes difficulty adjustment more flexible: besides the standard choice of three difficulty levels in the hangar, before a run you can choose additional settings. They can affect things like starting resources, the distance at which the enemy fleet will be at the beginning of sectors, or even the strength of enemy renegade cruisers.

This is how the additional difficulty selection menu looks

Endings and Meta-Progression

It's worth mentioning that the game no longer has just one ending; you're not obligated to end every run with a battle against the same rebel flagship, there are more than five endings, all well-justified by the plot, but their achievement conditions aren't simple; some secret endings require meta-progression.

Background image of the sector where one of the secret endings is located

Yes, FTL: Multiverse added small meta-progression and pleasant easter eggs that only the most attentive will notice. If you fulfill certain conditions, you get one bonus effect before your new run, and even something much better, but what it is — that's a secret not everyone will find.

Music and Quality of Life

Music in FTL: Multiverse, like in the original game, received special attention. Old tracks remained in the game, but many new, equally high-quality ones were added by enthusiasts, making sectors audiovisually memorable and unique, immersing you in the appropriate atmosphere for each situation.

The soundtrack is being created with great love, some of the tracks the authors rewrote 17 times before it pleased them

Also, some quality-of-life features were added to the mod, such as automatic instant healing/cloning of your crew members after battle in cases where this doesn't affect gameplay; the ability to accelerate time in the game and choose which musical track you want to hear; and of course, tutorial mode. If you're overwhelmed by the amount of new possibilities and content in the game, the tutorial will bring you up to speed. You might think: "forget it, I won't figure this out," but experience has shown that just one run is enough to master practically all FTL: Multiverse mechanics, even if you've barely played the original game before.

Settings menu with time accelerator variants and enabling/disabling automatic healing/cloning

And this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the game's content, which seems almost limitless. Hell, you'll even get your own charming nemesis who will remember you and pursue you in each run! The scale of various small details and secrets is hard to overestimate. Simply titanic work was done to not just add content to the game for content's sake, as often happens with fan modifications, but to make it feel organic and balanced, even more balanced than the original game.

Conclusion

Thus, we can confidently say that FTL: Multiverse is not just another modification, of which there are many, if not for FTL then for other games, but a full-fledged, albeit unofficial, continuation of the original game that preserves its spirit while bringing new ideas and possibilities. If you're a fan of FTL: Faster Than Light or just a roguelike lover, and want to experience new adventures in endless universes, this mod is worth your attention.

Old trailer, but there's no newer one, many things look different now

Installation

But how do you install it? Here the developers showed everyone the highest class. You don't need to dig through incomprehensible piles of files and watch guides. Just download the official installer from the mod's official page and, following the classic installer steps, install the mod in the game folder. It couldn't be easier. Installation instructions for Steam Deck/Linux are here.

FTL: Multiverse is officially available only in English, but what should those who don't speak English well do? Here too, fans took care of player comfort. There's an alternative, unofficial launcher that can't install the English version of the mod but can install other language versions with a few clicks, which players work on using the Weblate translation platform. Currently, the game is translated completely or almost completely into 4 languages besides English: French, Russian, Korean, and Chinese (simplified); work is also being done on Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Portuguese (Brazilian), these languages as well as Polish are now available for installation as machine translations. You can join the translators and help them in their difficult work to play FTL: Multiverse in your native language.

Interface for installing various mod localizations (along with the mod itself) through mvinstaller program

You can find multilingual installation instructions for FTL: Multiverse and launcher links here.

Addons

The game has numerous unofficial content addons and one official content expansion; if you find that the amount of content in FTL: Multiverse is insufficient or monotonous, you can install addons and increase its quantity and variety many times over! Addons are less balanced and may break from the mod's style, but they give you new interesting mechanics and add even more captivating storylines. How do you like the opportunity to recruit Admiral Vance himself, the rebel leader, and bring him face to face with another Vance on the Flagship? Or experiencing new types of core systems, such as Zoltan energy shield generators or zombie-spawning ones?

Game with addons, lots of unusual and interesting things

There are dozens of addons for every taste: from those more focused on new gameplay mechanics, with interesting but unbalanced ships and weapons that allow you to tear enemy ships to pieces in seconds without breaking a sweat, to hardcore and story-driven ones, so much so that if you're not a hardcore player, you probably wouldn't want to repeatedly enter the new sectors from these addons; I'm primarily referring to the Darkest Desire addon by the brilliant Nai, which immerses you in a cruel, mystery-filled dark world reminiscent of the worlds of Lovecraft and Stephen King.

The previously mentioned unofficial launcher also supports addon installation, which is performed just as easily: with just a few clicks. Although the situation with add-on translations is more complex: localized add-ons for FTL: Multiverse exist only in two languages — French and Russian.

Addon installation interface through the mvinstaller program

But to install addons in English and not be limited by the number available in this launcher, you'll have to use a more complex method: use the ftlman program. On the same forum you'll find all addons for the game.

The ftlman program interface, which is capable of installing not only addons but also the mod itself in manual mode

Community and Resources

Join the friendly FTL: Multiverse community!

• Official page

• Official Discord server

• Official forum

• Wiki. New and old

• Discord server for French mod translators

• Discord server for Russian mod translators